A network analysis of disordered eating symptoms, big-five personality traits, and psychological distress in Chinese adults.

OBJECTIVE: Previous studies have revealed associations between disordered eating symptoms, big-five personality traits, and psychological distress. However, limited research has explored these relationships as a network, including their interconnections, and even less has done so in non-Western populations. We employed network analysis to investigate the co-occurrence of disordered eating symptoms, big-five personality traits, and psychological distress in Chinese adults. METHOD: A sample of 500 Chinese adults (256 men) completed measures assessing big-five personality traits, psychological distress, and disordered eating symptoms. The network of personality traits, psychological distress, and disordered eating symptoms was estimated, including its central and bridge nodes. RESULTS: The central nodes in the network were the facets of openness (like adventure), extraversion (like going to social and recreational parties), and disordered eating symptoms (dissatisfaction with body weight or shape). Moreover, certain facets of neuroticism (always worrying something bad will happen), psychological distress (feeling worthless), and an inverse facet of extraversion (bored by parties with lots of people) were identified as essential bridge nodes in maintaining the structure of the network. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that personality traits (e.g., openness and extraversion) and body dissatisfaction are important in maintaining the network in a community sample of Chinese adults. While future replication is needed, findings from this study suggest that individuals with negative self-thinking, predisposed neuroticism, and extraversion may be at risk of developing disordered eating symptoms. PUBLIC SIGNIFICANCE: The present study contributes to existing knowledge by employing a network perspective to examine the associations between disordered eating symptoms, big-five personality traits, and psychological distress in a Chinese adult community sample. The identified facets of neuroticism and extraversion and symptoms of psychological distress may be worthy of targeting in the prevention and treatment of disordered eating in the Chinese context.

Space- and feature-based attention operate both independently and interactively within latent components of perceptual decision making.

Top-down visual attention filters undesired stimuli while selected information is afforded the lion's share of limited cognitive resources. Multiple selection mechanisms can be deployed simultaneously, but how unique influences of each combine to facilitate behavior remains unclear. Previously, we failed to observe an additive perceptual benefit when both space-based attention (SBA) and feature-based attention (FBA) were cued in a sparse display (Liang & Scolari, 2020): FBA was restricted to higher order decision-making processes when combined with a valid spatial cue, whereas SBA additionally facilitated target enhancement. Here, we introduced a series of design modifications across three experiments to elicit both attention mechanisms within signal enhancement while also investigating the impacts on decision making. First, we found that when highly reliable spatial and feature cues made unique contributions to search (experiment 1), or when each cue component was moderately reliable (experiments 2a and 2b), both mechanisms were deployed independently to resolve the target. However, the same manipulations produced interactive attention effects within other latent decision-making components that depended on the probability of the integrated cueing object. Time spent before evidence accumulation was reduced and responses were more conservative for the most likely pre-cue combination-even when it included an invalid component. These data indicate that selection mechanisms operate on sensory signals invariably in an independent manner, whereas a higher-order dependency occurs outside of signal enhancement.

Appetitive traits and body mass index in Chinese adolescents: An 18-month longitudinal study with latent growth curve analyses.

A longitudinal approach with Latent Growth Curve Modeling (LGCM) was adopted to explore the trajectories of appetitive traits corresponding to BMI in Chinese adolescents. Within a large sample of adolescents (N = 2566, 45.9% boys) aged from 11 to 17 years (M = 13.80, SD = 1.56) at the baseline survey, our results indicated that appetitive traits of emotional overeating, food fussiness, and hunger increased significantly over time while enjoyment of food decreased over time. Slowness in eating and satiety responsiveness significantly increased in girls, while emotional undereating significantly decreased in boys. Moreover, the growth parameters of emotional undereating and satiety responsiveness were significantly and negatively related to BMI in girls. Our findings evidence that certain appetitive traits could change over time in adolescence and these changes relate to weight status. Gender differences are suggested in the design of future intervention and treatment of overweight/obesity in Chinese adolescents.

Limited interactions between space- and feature-based attention in visually sparse displays.

Top-down visual attention selectively filters sensory input so relevant information receives preferential processing. Feature-based attention (FBA) enhances the representation of relevant low-level features, whereas space-based attention (SBA) enhances information at relevant location(s). The present study investigates whether the unique influences of SBA and FBA combine to facilitate behavior in a perceptually demanding discrimination task. We first demonstrated that, independently, both color and location pre-cues could effectively direct attention to facilitate perceptual decision making of a target. We then examined the combined effects of SBA and FBA in the same design by deploying a predictive color arrow pre-cue. Only SBA effects were observed in performance accuracy and reaction time. However, we detected a reaction time cost when a valid spatial cue was paired with a feature cue. A computational perceptual decision-making model largely provided converging evidence that contributions from FBA were restricted to facilitating the speed with which the relevant item was identified. Our results suggest that both selection mechanisms can be used in isolation to resolve a perceptually challenging target in a sparse display, but with little additive perceptual benefit when cued simultaneously. We conclude that there is at least some higher order interdependence between space-based and feature-based selection during decision making under specific conditions.

[Effect of Total Ravonoids of Herba Epimedium on BMP-2/RunX2/OSX Signaling Pathway during Osteogenic Differentiation of Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effect of total flavonoids of Herba Epimedium (FHE) on BMP-2/RunX2/OSX signaling pathway in promoting osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs). METHODS: Passage 3 BMSCs were randomly divided into the control group, the experimental group, and the inhibitor group. BMSCs in the control group were cultured in 0.2% dimethyl sulfoxide + Osteogenuxic Supplement (OS) fluid + DMEM/F12 culture media. BMSCs in the experimental group were intervened by 20 microg/mL FHE. BMSCs in the inhibitor group were intervened by 20 microg/mL FHE and 1 microg/mL NOGGIN recombinant protein. At day 9 alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity was measured. Calcium nodules were stained by alizarin red staining and the density was observed. The transcription expression of osteogenic differentiation-related proteins (type I collagen, osteocalcin, and osteopontin) and related factors of BMP-2/RunX2/OSX signaling pathway was assayed by RT-PCR. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, ALP activities were enhanced and the density of calcium nodules significantly increased; type I collagen, osteocalcin, and osteopontin expression levels were increased in the experimental group. The expression of osteogenesis-related transcription factor was also increased in the experimental group. Noggin recombinant protein inhibited FHE promoting BMSCs osteogenesis in the inhibitor group. Compared with the experimental group, ALP activity decreased (P < 0.05), the density of calcium nodules was lowered, expression levels of type I collagen, osteocalcin, osteopontin significantly decreased (P < 0.05) in the inhibitor group. CONCLUSION: 20 microg/mL FHE promoted osteogenic differentiation process of BMSCs by BMP-2/RunX2/OSX signaling pathway.

Subliminal trauma reminders impact neural processing of cognitive control in adults with developmental earthquake trauma: a preliminary report.

Little is known about the effects of developmental trauma on the neural basis of cognitive control among adults who do not have posttraumatic stress disorder. To examine this question, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to compare the effect of subliminal priming with earthquake-related images on attentional control during a Stroop task in survivors of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China (survivor group, survivors were adolescents at the time of the earthquake) and in matched controls (control group). We found that the survivor group showed greater activation in the left ventral anterior cingulate cortex (vACC) and the bilateral parahippocampal gyrus during the congruent versus incongruent condition, as compared to the control group. Depressive symptoms were positively correlated with left vACC activation during the congruent condition. Moreover, psychophysiological interaction results showed that the survivor group had stronger functional connectivity between the left parahippocampal gyrus and the left vACC than the control group under the congruent-incongruent condition. These results suggested that trauma-related information was linked to abnormal activity in brain networks associated with cognitive control (e.g., vACC-parahippocampal gyrus). This may be a potential biomarker for depression following developmental trauma, and it may also provide a mechanism linking trauma reminders with depression.

[Effects of total flavones of Chrysanthemum indicum on proliferation and apoptosis of human osteosarcoma Saos-2 cells].

OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of total flavones of Chrysanthemum indicum on proliferation and apoptosis of human osteosarcoma Saos-2 cells and its mechanism. METHODS: The effect of the total flavones of Chrysanthemum indicum on the proliferation of human osteosarcoma Saos-2 cells was detected by CCK assay, and the morphological changes of cells treated with total flavones of Chrysanthemum indicum were observed using contrast microscope. Flow cytomerty was performed to analyze the apoptotic rate of the cells, and the gene expression levels of Caspase-3, BCL-2, BAX were detected by RT-PCR. RESULTS: The total flavones of Chrysanthemum indicum suppressed the proliferation of osteosarcoma cells in a dose-and time-dependent manner. Under a microscope observation of cell morphology, the volume became smaller ,the number of internal particles was increased. Cell apoptosis rate was positively related to the drug concentration. After treated for 48 hours, Caspase-3 and BAX expression were up-regulated, BCL-2 and BCL-2/BAX were decreased. CONCLUSION: The total flavones of Chrysanthemum indicum can inhibit the proliferation of osteosarcoma cell line Saos-2 by inducing cell apoptosis,the mechanism of which might be related with reducing BCL-2/BAX and activating Caspase-3.